It’s been awhile since I looked into building a PC, so I’m not sure what some of the better stores may be, or which may have swapped hands/changed approaches and aren’t as reliable as they once were.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions/advice!
Try using pcpartpicker.com. You can do your build on the site and it will list the best deals for the components you choose. As a bonus it will check to see if there are some glaring incompatibilities at the same time.
I love this site so much. As someone who’s not got much of a tech backgroung, it’s been massively helpful in building and upgrading my PCs.
As a bonus it will check to see if there are some glaring incompatibilities at the same time.
I’d heard of the site but for some reason I’d forgotten this part. I’ll definitely use it for that at a minimum (and maybe for sourcing parts as well depending!), as I have a habit of missing some tiny detail that happens to relate to compatibility.
Watching this thread. I’ve been LOST ever since Fry’s fell apart. :(
Microcenter is great, especially for nerds. Sucks if one isn’t close, but they ship.
They don’t ship anything that matters. Key parts like CPU’s, GPU’s, mobos, hard nope.
Yup. 30 something processors in the website, 3 available in store. I love that microcenter has replaced Fry’s (smaller stores that i don’t get an anxiety attack going to) but the shipping is crap and you have to wait for parts to come back in stock.
In their defense, I believe a lot of their shipping rules changed during the crypto/covid/AI shortages of the past few years to prevent scalpers from vacuuming up their supply. They limited a lot of the big ticket items to in-store only specifically so you couldn’t order them from Timbuktu and resell them.
Which, props to them, respect. But holy crap does it make them useless as a retailer unless you’re one of the lucky fucks who lives within a 2 hour drive of one.
My best buys were always at fry’s.
And if you wanted delicious fries, your best buy was not at Best Buy but rather Five Guys Burgers and Fries.
I’m trying to hold off as a new microcenter will open this year in town
Charlotte gang
I cheat and drive to Microcenter. It’s about an hour south and worth it.
They sell online and I’d try that if I lived too far away to drive.
Microcenter is my 1st priority, I’ve heard of Fry’s on the west Coast.
After that, Newegg
I usually buy used refurbished components from reputable stores. Likely eBay too. Being in the tech industry I realized how mind bogglingly cheap even slightly “old” hardware is. If you want an entry level/mid tier you can buy a used office PC with an i7 8700k or something (make sure that specific model has GPU power overhead) and buy a refurbished gtx 1080 ti. Make sure to add an SSD if it doesn’t have one already. In fact skip the HDD and buy a high capacity SSD, they are cheap nowadays.
Just got a 2t Samsung ssd for well under 100 bucks. Good stuff.
I die a little inside whenever I see someone clueless buy a 1000$ computer with an HDD, and expect it to be way faster. And I die a little more inside when my work’s laptop, selling for 120$, with SSD and upgraded ram remain unsold for months.
Hell shoot me a link and I’ll buy it and pay for shipping. I need a laptop anyways for when I go to my fiancees house.
I built a computer last year. Parts were sourced from Newegg, microcenter, and Amazon.
I did this exact same combo. PCpartspicker helped find best deal for each component between the three.
B&H in New York has some pretty good inventory, usually. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from them through the years.
Depends on what you want. Newegg, eBay, Amazon, Jawa.gg, Liquidation.com, Shopgoodwill.com, FB Marketplace, Craigslist, Garage sales, Auctions
I get computer parts from all these sources.
Depends on my laziness. I just bought parts for my new rig on Newegg. I was going to do microcenter, but they didn’t have everything I wanted.
Since Fry’s closed only Amazon and Newegg remain as primary part sources, both of which are shitty companies. Closest Microcenter is ~500 miles away.
Memory express and Canada computers
Probably not for everyone, but Facebook marketplace with local pickup is really good for some parts. YMMV
I was planning on buying an RX 6700XT from Newegg for $450ish, but instead managed to get a 6600 (non XT) for $80. I then found a 6700XT a month later for $300, bought it, and gave the 6600 to my cousin’s kid.
I also bought a shitbox I turned into a Plex server for $75.
I usually walk into Best Buy or order from B and H photo video.
Most of the parts for my last 2 builds have been from Micro Center, but if I’m just buying one or two components I hit up my local Best Buy first, and then Newegg if Best Buy doesn’t have what I want.
